What do the small festival created in 1948 by Lily Pastré and Gabriel Dussurget in the courtyard of the Archdiocese, then devoured by years and neglect, and the current international festival, which gives its first events in June, in full swing for three weeks, crossed the Mediterranean and brought together the ultimate in orchestras, singers and directors? Pierre Audi, in charge of designing the 75th anniversary edition, the fifth of his term as director, relied on his reflection and his instinct. He was also keen to complete orders designed for the summer of 2020, postponed due to the Covid. And to allow visitors who are only there for a few days to see a harvest of works.
“Each edition is another festival. I have always been disturbed by a festival that repeats itself, the programming must disturb things, he says. In twenty-five years, Aix will celebrate its centenary. I wanted to launch a huge work on the memory of the event to hand it over to future generations. We cannot squander it. We must tell what happened and why, take stock of this artistic adventure, paint a portrait of the pioneers.” And to specify that the 75 years of this edition are doubled by other anniversaries: “The 25 years of Venelle, workshop for the creation of sets and costumes, the 25 years of the Academy of young singers, which has trained 3000 international artists, two initiatives by Stéphane Lissner. And the 15 years of Passerelles, socio-educational work that works all year round on the territory as our ambassador, an initiative of Bernard Foccroulle. Pierre Audi insists on the work accomplished by his predecessors: “I really like being a link in a story,” he says. Its programming weaves together these loyalties.
Coming from San Carlo, in Naples, Otello is a tribute to Lissner, who runs this house. The other gift, this time carved like a jewel, is a tribute to Foccroulle, who marked the history of the festival by commissioning George Benjamin Written on Skin, eleven years ago. “I commissioned a chamber opera from Benjamin the day after my appointment, in 2016,” says Pierre Audi. Picture a Day Like This, an opera by George Benjamin, will premiere this summer.
Alongside these tributes, Audi adds its own audacity. In the courtyard of the Archdiocese, Cosi fan tutte, which opened the first Festival d’Aix, returns to it. In 1948, Georges Wakhevitch had cobbled together a set, with a canopy and a few feathers, reports Dussurget. The work was unknown at the time, it had not been performed on a French stage since 1926. This summer, Dmitri Tcherniakov questions love knowledge: Fiordiligi, Dorabella, Ferrando, Gugliemo are no longer very young people caught up in their first affair , but couples of colleagues who have passed their fifties and claim to know everything about the scenes of married life.
Audi is also working to expand the series of composers played in Aix. He had Puccini play there for the first time, then Weill with Mahagonny. This year, it’s Berg’s turn with Wozzeck, while waiting for Lulu. In the courtyard of the Archdiocese, Kurt Weill persists and signs. The Comédie-Française troupe, for the first time at the festival, sings The Threepenny Opera, with Thomas Ostermeier directing and Maxime Pascal leading the Balcony ensemble.
The great ensembles invited for operas will give concerts, operas will be played in stage version (or in concert – like The Prophet, by Meyerbeer) and, at the Vitrolles Stadium, the Orchester de Paris will go on stage to perform, under the baton by Klaus Mäkelä, ballet music by Stravinsky. Opposite, three films created for the occasion. True to its wish to surprise, Audi is also bringing cabaret to the festival with pianist Kirill Gerstein as master of ceremonies.
